Cushioned bedpan cover



g- 26, 1969 E. F. M. SMITH 3,462,770

CUS HIONED BEDPAN COVER Filed Dec. 4. 1967 INVENTOR EDITH F. M. SMITHF\G.8 a)

AGEN

United States Patent "ic 3,462,710

Patented Aug. 26, 1969 3 462 770 sheet material, extends under at leastthe rearward half i of the seat pad, and its upwardly turned outermargin is fig g giigg ggY g joined to the side and rear outer edges ofthe seat pad. Continuation-impart of application ser. No. 447,138, T t Pand the base thu s formen open-ended pocket Apr. 12, 1965. Thisapplication Dec. 4, 1967, Ser. 5 Into WhlCh a bedpan can easily beinserted. 25 2 1 Attached to the under side of the inner, curved rim 13Int. Cl. A61g 9/00 of the seat pad there is a flap or retaining strip 14which US. Cl. 4-113 4 Clams extends, underneath the cushion, part waytoward the outer rim thereof. The purpose of the flap 14 is to clasp 10the underside of the seat portion of the bedpan along ABSTRACT O THEDISCLOSURE its inner margin. If so desired, a narrow spacing strip Awashable bedpan over which is wholly nonmetallic is inserted between theinner border of the flap 14 and and is designed for easy insertion andremoval of a bedthe mner mm of the cushion, thus holding the cushionpan, includes a flexible, yielding cushion seat of horseshoe securely inplace and preventmg its displacement by moveshape having side wallsattached to it at the outer edge, 15 ment of the patient. The flap 14 ismade of flexible, but and a base which slips under the bedpan, and asemifiexiat the same time somewhat stiff, rubbery or plastic mable flapattached to the cushion underneath and along its terlal only stiffenough so that it will not yield and perinner edge. This flap can beprogressively turned downmlt dlsplacement of the cover from the bedpan.The flap ward so that it does not hinder the mounting of a bed- 14 iscut or molded in a slightly dish-shaped, upwardly pan therein, and canthen be turned outward and upward Concave contour, as shown in FIG. 4,conforming to the so as to clasp the inner margin of the bedpan and thusbe slope of the seat port1on of a bedpan. When the cushheld securely inplace. ioned cover is in use, the outer edge of the flap 14 lies closeto the underside of the bedpan seat. When the cover is to be placed overa bedpan or removed, the This application is a continuation-in-part ofmy pendp 14 y be im 9 all around, as indicated in ing application Ser.No. 447,138, filed Apr. 12, 1965. 7, torermlt lnsertwn or e l of the dpThe turnlng down of the flap 1s readlly accomplished BACKGROUND ART byapplying a progressive bending or twisting pressure Abedpan used withoutany cushioning seat pad between with the hands, starting at the rear,median portion of the pan and the patients body is a source ofdiscomfort the flap and progressing along either side to the open anddistress to the patient, particularly one whose body ends, or startingat one end and progressing along the is thin and wasted. flap to theother end, With the flap thus entirely turned Many proposals ofcushioned bedpan covers have been down, the seat cover is readilymounted on the bedpan, made, but none of the resulting pads has beeneminently the turned-down flap clearing the inner margin of thesatisfactory and none has been widely adopted or used. seat, andextending below the rim The flap is then pro- Some undesirable featureshave been the presence of varigressively turned upward by a lyingpresusre in the opous metallic parts such as books and clamps, valvestems, posite direction to that by which it was turned down. em The flapis thus forced mto the turned-up, or clasping,

DETAILS OF THE INVENTION position. The semirigid, semifiexible characterof the flap permits this progressive, wave-like twisting to be performedeasily. The down-turning is also facilitated by the soft, yieldingcharacter of the cushion material, which permits the cushion material atits juncture with the flap mg no metal parts, and 1s comfortable andconvenient to 14 to be depressed by the turning of the flap as clearlyuse, belng easy to and 4.5 shown in FIG. 7. Any distortion of the flapwhile it is My improved cushioned bedpan envelope comprises being turnedfrom one position to the other is accommoessennany a cushion l body anda .bottom.panel and dated by the yielding nature of the seat material.slde Walls tqgether formmg 5 Pocket. {mo Whlch a bed- It will sometimesbe convenient to use as the retaining pan can be mserted, and flexibleretaining flap means atmeans, in place of the One piece Strip 14 a pairof Sepa tached to the under side of the seat body so as to clasp rateflaps 16, 16, as shown in FIG. 6 extending reap the inner edge bedpanand thus prevent dlsplace' wardly from the forward ends of the seat padbut not ment of the seat extending around the rearward part of the seatpad.

The invention Will be understood from the following In a slight variantfrom the shape of sidewall shown detailed descript1on and the appendeddrawing, in WhlCh. in FIG. 2 I may use a sidewall of which the ward FIG.1 is a top plan view of my bedpan envelope;

ends 17 are tapered and extend upwardly and forwardly F 2 is slde VleWof Q envelope; to the front extremities of the seat pad, as shown in FI3 s a bottom P 115W the envelope; FIG. 8. By this construction the seatpad is held more FIG. 4 is a cross-Section 0n the 11116 19 securely inplace during use. FIG. 5 is a plan view of a one-piece retainmg flap;

Suitable materials of which to make the seat pad in- FIG. 6 I a P VleWof a of Separate retammg clude, but are not limited to, cellular orexpanded polyflaps; urethane (commonly called poly foam), and cellularFIG. 7 is a d ta cl'oss-sectlon of the retammg flap or expanded rubber,either natural or synthetic, and the My invention provides a cushionedbedpan cover or envelope which is of simple construction, is madeentirely of flexible, washable and noncorrodible materlals, havattachedto the cushion and put in the turned-down posilike. tion; and The baseand sidewalls 12, and likewise the flaps 14 FIG. is a Side Vlew of anenvelope havmg a differ" or 16, and the spacer strips 15 if used, may bemade out sidewall contour. variously of flexible sheet plastic materialsof suitable As shown in the dr wlng, y Pushloned bedpan \thickness andstiffness such as polyurethane, plasticized Velope, indicated generallyat mcludes a Seat Pad 11 polyvinyl chloride, and the like, or of rubber,or textile made of nonabsorbent, resilient, cellular or expanded rubf bi impregnated or coated with rubber or plastic so as bery material andconforming in its configuration to the to b nonabsorbent and il lhoseshoe-shaped seat portion of a conventlonal bedpan. The parts ofwhich the cushioned envelope is con- A base, or bottom panel, 12, formedof nonabsorbent structed may be joined together in various ways wellknown in the art, as by the use of adhesive cements or :adhesive strips,or by fusion or heatsealing techniques,

vulcanization, etc.

If the exposed surfaces of the expanded seat cushion material areinherently porous, they may be provided with a sealing coat, layer, orskin which is impermeable to liquids, in ways which are also well knownto the art. For example, the expanded material may have an integral,nonexpanded, impermeable outer cover or skin formed thereon before orduring the expanding operation; or it may be sheathed in an impermeableenvelope of thin sheet material within which the expanded material issealed by joining mating edges of the envelope. Another convenientmethod is to apply a sealing coat by spraying onto the surface of thecushion material a solution or dispersion of rubber or plastic sealingmaterial to form an impereable layer.

It may sometimes be desirable to insert a small gore 18 of elasticmaterial, such as a piece of stretchable rubber sheet or rubber-coatedelastic webbing, in the forward edge of the base 12, when the latter hasbeen made of a non-stretchable material and it is desired to have thebase extend forward past the widest part of the seat, as shown in FIG.3. In this way insertion and removal of a bedpan are facilitatedparticularly when there is a snug fit.

' In using the embodiment of my invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, thebedpan cover is drawn first over the rear portion of the bedpan and isthen drawn forward to cover the bedpan.

In another embodiment of my invention the rear wall of the base isomitted except for a strip of it just below the rear edge of thecushion, or the rear wall may be slit along a line where it becomes thebottom panel and paralleling the juncture of the rear wall and thecushion, to form a pendant flap across the rear. In these and other waysa rear opening is created through which a bedpan can be inserted andremoved. In such case the forward ends of the retaining strip extend tothe front extremity of the seat body, and the tamsverse edges of saidforward ends of the strip means can be sealed to the seat body, thusproviding a stop which positions the bedpan within the cover. Ifdesired, a strap or straps may be provided extending across the rearopening of the cover either vertically or horizontally or both, to keepthe bedpan from sliding out of the cover. Such straps may, for example,be formed of rubber or plastic, one end being sealed to or integral withthe cover material and the free end having a hole or a socket and therebeing a rubber or plastic boss adhered to the cover material over whichthe free end of the strap may be pressed to secure it.

In all embodiments of my invention, concave depressions may be formed inthe underside of the seat body to act as suction cups to aid in holdingthe cushion on the pan secure from slipping off. Many other changes andmodifications may be made in my invention within the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A bedpan cover comprising a resilient, impermeable cushion seat bodyof cellular or expanded rubbery material, having a central opening andbeing slightly dished or upwardly concave in contour, a flexible basehaving side walls joined to the periphery of the seat body, said seatbody and base constituting a pocket for reception of a bedpan, andflexible flap means extending under the seat body and secured to andunderlying at least the lateral portions of the inner margin of the seatbody, said flap being adapted to assume either of two positions, in oneof which positions the flap is turned upward so as to conform closely tothe dished margin of the seat body and is thus adapted to clasp theinner margin of a bedpan inserted in said cover, and in the other ofwhich positions the flap is turned down and in this position permitsready insertion or removal of a bedpan, the said flap being convertiblefrom one of said positions to the other by hand flexing pressure appliedprogressively along the length of the flap.

2. A bedpan cover according to claim 1 wherein the exposed faces of saidseat body have a surface layer applied thereto which is impenetrable toliquids.

3. A bedpan cover according to claim 1 wherein the retaining flap meansunderlies the seat body along the entire inner margin thereof.

4. A bedpan cover according to claim 1 wherein the retaining flap meanscomprises two separate flaps underlying the lateral inner margins of theseat body.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 569,922 10/1896 Hutton 4-1132,188,844 1/1940 Pedersen 4-113 2,817,093 12/1957 Rode 4-l13 LAVERNE D.GEIGER, Primary Examiner H. J. GROSS, Assistant Examiner

